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Hyperbole
Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—A Thing of Blood:
In the second Act of the play, Coriolanus stands as the favored candidate for the consulship of Rome. Cominius, who has pushed Coriolanus to get involved in politics despite his clear disinterest, uses a number of literary devices, including simile, imagery, and hyperbole, in a flattering speech that presents Coriolanus to the Roman masses in heavily idealized language. Describing Coriolanus’s heroic actions in the battle against the Volscians, Cominius states:
He stopped the flyers
And by his rare example made the coward
Turn terror into sport. As weeds before
A vessel under sail, so men obeyed
And fell below his stem. His sword, Death’s stamp,
Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot
He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
Was timed with dying cries. Alone he entered
The mortal gate o’ th’ city, which he painted
With shunless destiny; aidless came off
And with a sudden reinforcement struck
Corioles like a planet.
Related Themes:
